Five Months
by SiriusMarauderFan
Summary: Sequel to A Christmas to Remember. Rated as a precaution. In five months Ginny Potter will give birth to her twins, but can she survive through the normal chaos that follows her family?
1. January

**Dedication & Thanks: **To my mom and beta reader, Happy Mother's Day!

**Five Months**

Chapter One: January

Harry sat on a bench on the ground floor of St. Mungo's. During the eight years of his wife's coma, Harry had spent more time in the hospital than one person would in their entire life. Needless to say, he no longer felt like this was a safe place to be.

If there was one good reason to come here it was Casey Adams, Harry's favourite Welcome Witch. Casey had befriended Harry during the eight years and had been very understanding of his situation, even going so far as to baby-sit Alroy for him when he needed to be alone with Ginny.

Of course, Ginny was back now, as healthier as ever. It had been almost two years since she woke up, after all. So Harry and Casey never really got a chance to see each other anymore. And neither could figure out if that was a good or bad thing.

It was nearing noon now, and Harry's back was beginning to hurt from sitting on the hard wooden bench for almost an hour. But, truth be told, it was his own fault. Healer Lynch, Ginny's new Midwitch, had told Harry that the check-up would take a while and to go to the hospital shop while he waited. But his reasons for not doing what the Healer said were simple. One: he didn't want to buy anything; two: both of Harry and Ginny's children were in St Mungo's for their own check-ups today, so if anyone needed Harry he'd be right there; and three: Harry really didn't like Healer Lynch.

Silently Casey walked over to where Harry was sitting in the crowded room. In her hands were two cups of coffee. She had known Harry for a very long time, and she liked to think that she knew him better than he knew himself, including what he needed. This, of course, was true.

Handing him a cup, she spoke. "How's the family?"

Harry startled when he heard Casey's voice, he wasn't expected anyone, least of all her, but he took the coffee gratefully. "Fine, everyone's fine."

"Good to hear." She smiled. Casey had heard about things going on with the Potters through their many family members who passed through the hospital, and she could always tell which stories were true. Unfortunately there were several true stories at the moment.

Things she'd heard consisted of Ginny's pregnancy, this was old news, true enough, but the fact that she was having twins had only been discovered last month. Then there was the writing of Harry and Ginny's first book. Both adults had quit their jobs as Aurors at the same time with the hopes of becoming children's authors. Now they were at a loss for words—literally.

Last, there was Harry's problem with Healer Lynch. This Casey had found out from Lynch herself. From what the Healer could tell, Harry considered the amount of years a Healer has been working to reflect on how experienced they are. And both of Ginny's past Midwitches had worked for over twenty years before they hired them, where as Lynch only had ten years under her belt. This was something Casey thought she could help Harry with.

She took a sip of her coffee slowly and quietly before turning to Harry. "So, how's Ginny?"

"Fine," he answered.

"Any complications?"

"No, she's just in for her monthly check-up."

Casey laughed softly. "No. I meant are there any complications with Healer Lynch. You still don't trust her, do you?"

Harry had gotten over being shocked by Casey's knowledge of things long ago; he now found it comforting that someone cared enough to learn what was happening in his life. "No, I don't."

She laughed again. "Harry, Lynette Lynch is one of my oldest and closest friends. So believe me when I say that she's more than qualified to take care of Ginny. And, if that still doesn't convince you, check her stats. She's dealt with more births than both your old Healers _combined_. And most of them were for twins."

A few moments passed without them speaking. Both knew Harry didn't have anything else he could argue about on the subject. Finally Casey decided to break the silence with a question that'd been nagging at her for a month now.

"Have you decided on the names yet?"

Harry smirked as he finished his drink. Setting the glass down beside him, he answered. "We've talked about it a little. But nothing is final."

"Did you find out the genders?"

"Yeah, last month. But that was only the magical prediction ultrasound. The real one should happen later this month."

"Well, MPU's are pretty accurate most of the time. I'll bet you anything that the results will be the same." Casey looked at her wrist watch. It was 12:15 now. "I have to get back to work. Do me a favour, though." She handed a gift bag to Harry. "Give this to Rachel, it's her birthday present."

"Why don't you just come to the party? We'd love to have you."

"I don't want to intrude. Besides, aren't all your parties for family only?"

"And friends and you're one of them." He smiled kindly at her. "The party's on the thirtieth at my house. It should start at around ten."

"All right, then. I'll see you there."

With that, Casey walked off to her work station, leaving Harry alone for another ten minutes before Alroy and Rachel arrived with another Healer.

"Everything okay, Davis?"

"Not a single thing wrong with them," replied Davis Thorn. Davis had been the Potters' paediatric Healer since Al was born and they had turned to him with Rachel as well. He and Harry and also become friends thanks to Mrs. Thorn, a kind-hearted woman who felt sorry for the Potters.

"Good to know." Harry took Rachel from the Healer's arms.

"Oh, Elvira wants to know if we're still on for the thirtieth," Davis went on. "I told her that people usually don't confirm until the week before, but you know Elvira." He rolled his eyes at his wife.

Harry laughed. "Yeah, the party's still on. But I think I might have to change the location if more people are invited." The two laughed again and spoke for a few more minutes before Ginny came from one of the ground floor offices.

"Good afternoon, Dave." Ginny said to the Healer after taking her daughter from Harry.

"Hello, Ginny. Everything alright with the babies, I hope."

"Oh, yes. Everything's fine." She smiled and looked at the clock. "We should be going though. See you soon."

Harry nodded and the four Flooed to their home in Northern Scotland.

Later

It was almost nine-thirty. Harry had just finished putting the children to bed while Ginny read a book. Now they were both stretched out on an over-stuffed couch in their family room, talking.

"So," began Harry. "What did Lynch say?" Ginny smirked, she too knew of Harry's dislike for her Midwitch.

"She wants me to take it easy, no unnecessary traveling, no Apparating or Flooing. You know the usual." Harry nodded. "Anyway, shall we get to work?" Ginny snapped her fingers and a large, purple binder appeared in front of her. The word 'Rachel' was written on the front cover. Flipping it open, it landed on a list of names; the guest list. "Okay, so far we've invited my parents, my brothers, their wives, their kids, Remus and Tonks, Neville and Luna, and Dave and Elvira. Is that everyone?"

"Don't forget about your father's old friends," added Harry.

"Oh, yeah. Jake and Randy Winters." Ginny said as she wrote down the names. "I have a funny feeling this is going to be an exhausting month."

"Well, that's what happens when you celebrate two birthdays on the same day."

"Tell that to my mum. She's the one that thought this would be easier than having two parties."

The room fell silent for a few minutes while both adults were lost in their own thoughts.

"By the way," said Harry, "I invited Casey Adams."

"All right, is that everyone, then?"

"I guess." Ginny turned the page in Rachel's birthday binder.

"Next, presents. Do you know what you want to get her?"

"I was thinking about one of those brooms for toddlers." He grinned. "What do you think?"

"I think you're crazy."

"Come on, Gin," Harry pleaded. "I got one for Alroy when one his first birthday."

"That's because I wasn't there to stop you. I'm sorry, but my daughter is not going anywhere near a broom until she's ten-years-old, even if it's just a toy. And that's final."

Harry crossed his arms over his chest and began to pout as his wife continued on.

"How about one of those Morgana dolls? Or maybe some books?"

"A doll?" What good can come of giving her a doll? At least if we get her the toddler broom it'll teach her to fly. And its really safe too! It has a seatbelt and handles and everything," he added, seeing Ginny's glares.

"Fine. I'll get the Morgana doll, and you get her the stupid broom," she gave in. "But if I find so much as one scratch on Rachel I'm burning the thing. Agreed?"

"Whatever you say." Harry then proceeded to skip happily around the room, while Ginny shook her head.

"Anyway," she said, making the thirty-two-year-old sit down again. "We'll have to get all the decorations tomorrow. Let's see, Mum's making the cake; Fleur and Hermione offered to cook dinner for me, isn't that nice of them? And Fred and George are the entertainment, for the kids anyway. Are we forgetting anything?"

"Is time to relax scheduled?"

"Very funny, we've got five birthday parties to attend in the next five months, that's eight people. Plus we've got Valentine's Day and Easter." Ginny stopped to catch her breath. "Not to mention the fact that I'm due somewhere in that chaos."

Harry comforted his stressed wife, tossing the binder onto the coffee table. "We can get through all of it, we've done it before."

"Not with twins we haven't."

"Big deal. Your parents had three kids before Fred and George and they went on to have two more, and they're still standing."

"Harry, when my parents had the twins, Bill was eight, Charlie was six, and Percy was two. Rachel's just turning one, and Alroy will be ten before I'm due. Don't you think they had it a little better than we do?" Harry laughed.

"Are you kidding? I know your brothers, Ginny. At least out kids aren't complete trouble-makers." In a more serious tone he added, "We'll be fine, trust me."

Dropping the subject, though still having doubts, Ginny pulled out a large book and two rolls of parchment from her purse beside her. "Shall we move on to more important matters, then?" She handed a roll of parchment to Harry, along with a quill, and set the book down between them. Taking a peek at the book's title, Harry laughed.

"'_Name Your Wizard_'?" he read. "Isn't it a little early to pick out baby names? We don't even know the genders yet."

"Well, we could just pick names according to the MPU results."

"You mean all girls names?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm, maybe we should go through all names, just in case."

"Fine."

Harry and Ginny then got to work and began writing down their favourite male and female names, the book only coming in use once or twice. Finally, as the large grandfather clock struck eleven o'clock, both Potter had finished writing out their lists with at least seventy names on each.

"Girls names first?" Harry asked, picking up Ginny's list.

"Sure," she answered, picking up Harry's. There was a moment of silence as they looked down each other's lists.

"Agnes? You've got to be kidding me," Harry said, breaking the silence.

"What's wrong with that?"

"'Agnes Potter', tell me you don't find anything wrong with that!"

"Well it's far better than Athena Potter!"

"I'll have you know that Athena was the goddess of wisdom in Greek mythology."

"So what? You think it'll make our daughter smart if she's named after her?"

"Well, yeah," Harry answered lamely. Ginny just shook her head as she continued to read the list.

"Beatrice, no. Belle, no. Bridget, no. Bethany, yes. I actually like that."

"All right, I'll add that to the joint list." Harry then took out a fresh piece of parchment and scribbled the name down as an option, then returned to Ginny's names. "Buffy? I'm not naming my daughter after a vampire slayer."

"A vampire what?"

"Slayer. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a Muggle TV show."

"Oh, I see the problem. All right, I'll forget about it then. Hey, do you like Calantha?"

"Is that a joke?"

"Never mind."

"How about Dana or Delia?"

"No way. I don't suppose you'd like Danica or Demetria, would you?"

"Nope."

"I know! Honey!"

"Honey Potter?"

"Yes."

"No."

"Fine, then no to Hannah and Hilary too."

"You didn't even give them a chance! At least give Ileana a little thought, will you?"

"Ileana?" Ginny scrolled down the list a little until she came to the I's. "I love it!"

"Love? Well, that's a step up from like, I suppose." Harry once again added the name onto the joint list. "What do you think of Janelle and Judy?"

"Don't like either. How about Kizzy?"

"What's a Kizzy?"

"Forget it."

"Do you like Natalie?"

"No, but what about Nathalie?"

"Okay. Olivia?"

"No. Oriana?"

"Nope. Ruth?"

"Ew, ugly name… Oh! Phoenix Potter!"

"That's a bird."

"Fine. What about Ruby?"

"What is it with you and the gem stones?" Harry asked, looking over his wife's list. "Amethyst, Emerald, Diamond, Garnet, Onyx, Ruby, Sapphire, you've even got Gemma and Jewel on here."

"It's not a crime to like pretty names – or pretty jewellery."

"Anyway, you like Tatum?"

"No way. Tiffany's way better."

"I don't think so… Zoë's my last name."

"I've got Zara."

"Well, we only got Bethany, Ileana and Nathalie for female names. Shall we move on?"

"Sure." Ginny moved on down Harry list again, this time stopping at the male names. "You like Adam?"

"Yeah, very traditional."

"You're crazy."

"I could say the same about you for putting Adair, Ambrose and _Arnold_ on your list."

"What's wrong with Arnold?"

"You named your pygmy puff Arnold in your fifth year."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. How about Casimir, then?"

"Sorry, no. Dylan?"

"That's nice." Another name added to the joint list.

"Fabian? You actually like Fabian?"

"Well, no, but it's a family name. Fabian and Gideon were my uncles. Mum's brothers."

"Oh, all right, I'll add them. But I'll only use them if we have boys. Okay?"

"Yes!"

"Do you like Henry or Hyatt?"

"No. What about Hagan and Hayden?"

"No."

Harry and Ginny were becoming very impatient, the clock was nearing midnight and they could barely get past a letter without arguing.

"Jensen, then? Or perhaps Jasper or Joseph?"

"Joseph? Yeah, I like that one. Do you like Miles or Morris?"

"Nope. Maddox and Maurice are better."

"No, they're not."

"Well, Rory and Regan are nice, we've got to admit."

"A little, but I'm not naming my kids them. Maybe Ren or Riley though."

"I'd rather have Theodore."

"I actually like that too."

"How about Wade?"

"Not for my son. Wyatt?"

"Not gonna happen. Zane's may last one."

"Zachary's mine."

Again the room became quiet as Harry and Ginny looked over their joint names list. So far it read:

_Girls:_

_Bethany, Ileana and Nathalie_

_Boys:_

_Dylan, Fabian & Gideon, Joseph and Theodore_

This wasn't as helpful as Ginny had thought it would be since neither would know the genders of their twins until later that month.

The Next Morning

Mr. and Mrs. Potter walked down the crowded streets of Diagon Alley alone. Both looked tired from staying up late the night before, being woken up at eight in the morning by Alroy didn't help either. Now Alroy was in Muggle school and Rachel was visiting Molly and Arthur at the Burrow while their parents shopped.

As soon as Harry and Ginny stepped foot in the Alley that day, Harry immediately pushed through the crowds leading to Gringotts while Ginny made her way to Madam Malkin's to pick up the robes they'd ordered a week before.

"I'm afraid there's been a slight problem, Mrs. Potter," began the shop owner when Ginny asked her for the clothes. "It's Dana, one of our interns; she accidentally gave your robes to a Ms. Greta Potter."

"_Greta_ Potter?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, is there any way you can get my clothes back?"

"We're trying ma'am. Dana's been trying to contact Ms. Potter all day. We could always make you some new robes, free of charge, of course."

"There's no time, we need them by the thirtieth, that's in a week."

"Ah, yes, that is a problem." Ginny sighed. Of all the things she thought could go wrong on her daughter's birthday this was not one of them. Thankfully Harry came in at that moment.

"Everything all right?" he asked, seeing her disappointed face.

"They gave away our robes to another Potter."

"I'm very sorry, sir," interrupted Madam Malkin.

Ginny could tell from the look on Harry's face that he was about to do something he'd most likely regret later on, lucky for both of them, Dana walked up beside Madam Malkin with a large grin no her face.

"Good news," she said, "I just finished talking to Ms. Potter. She says she'll be back here in a half hour to exchange the robes. Isn't that wonderful?!" The three adults all glared at the teenager.

"Dana, I think we need to have a little talk after we close tonight," said Madam Malkin through clenched teeth as she led the girl to the back room, but not before telling Harry and Ginny to come back in an hour.

"Where next?" asked Harry as they stepped outside onto the cobbled road.

"The Party Palace, for decorations," his wife answered after consulting her list.

Walking a few feet away from Madam Malkin's, they found themselves in front of a small bubblegum pink shop which looked even smaller squished between two multiple level buildings. Though the inside looked much bigger due to the sickening shade of lime green and had pink and yellow polka dots all over the walls and doors. Beside the door sat a young man who looked to have just gotten out of Hogwarts. He was sitting behind a small desk and appeared to be the clerk.

"Can I help you?" the boy asked when he noticed his new customers.

"No, thank you," replied Harry as he began leading Ginny to their usual starting point; balloons.

"What do you think of these?" Ginny held up a package of pink and purple balloons with white unicorns on them.

"Unicorns? C'mon, Gin, do we _have_ to use girly stuff?" Ginny laughed.

"Well, Rachel _is_ a girl, Harry. What did you expect we'd use?"

"I don't know – nothing pink though. Can't we do Quidditch or something?"

"No. We've already done five Quidditch parties for Alroy, though I'm sure there are more that you haven't told me about yet."

"But Rachel won't even remember this birthday!"

"No, but I will. End of discussion." Ginny then proceeded to throw three packs of the unicorn balloons in her cart, along with a couple with a numeral one on them, then dragged Harry into the next department, signs and streamers.

"Let me guess," Harry started, "you want to get the pink and yellow stuff."

"Oh, stop sulking. I'll have you know I'm getting the baby blue streamers. And I'll be making my own sign – which will also be blue."

Two minutes later they were on a hunt for party favours.

"What do you think about a cute picture frame for the adults?" Ginny asked, this time holding up a wooden frame with bears glued on the corners.

"Not expensive enough," said a voice from behind the couple.

"Yeah, a hundred galleons per person will do," said another. Turning around they found Fred and George.

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Harry after Ginny finished hugging her brothers.

"It's Cal's birthday next month and Angelina's making me plan the party. Can you believe it?" Fred's voice showed more excitement than anger, and his huge grin confirmed it.

"And he recruited me to help him," said George, the grin on his face identical to that of his twin's.

"Please tell me Angelina's still going to be cooking," said Ginny.

"She hasn't decided yet. But I'm dying to try out this new recipe I read about – Hippogriff stew." Fred started laughing hysterically as both Harry and Ginny considered never eating again.

"Anyway," said Harry, hoping to change the subject. " What're you getting for party favours?"

"Lollipops for the young kids, Sugar Quills for the older kids, and boxes of chocolate for the adults. You're not seriously considering picture frames, are you?"

"Not any more." Ginny put the frame back on the shelf and turned back to the twins. "Actually, I think I've got an even better idea. Would you two give us a discount at WWW, being family and all?" Both Fred and George's grins widened as Ginny explained her idea of giving everyone items from their shop, except for most of the kids, that is.

Nearly twenty minutes later Ginny walked back into Madam Malkin's to retrieve her family's robes while Harry trailed behind her with five heavy looking bags.

"Do we need to go anywhere else?" the man asked, exhaustion showing.

"Just the toy store." At this he brightened up and quickly sent all the packages to hide in the attic.

Rachel and Arthur's Birthday Party

"Ginny, dear, what color did you want the cake to be?" asked Molly Weasley, stepping out of the Potters' kitchen.

"Yell – I mean green, mum," answered Ginny after noticing Harry's glare.

The couple was sitting in the living room awaiting their guests. Molly, Fleur and Hermione had all arrived several hours before and hadn't dared to exit the kitchen lest they should get involved in one of Harry and Ginny's fights over what decoration goes where. Now it was almost noon and people were bound to start arriving.

As if on queue the doorbell rang and Harry left the room to answer it, though it only turned out to be Arthur, along with his friends, Jake and Randy. The men were promptly seated in the living room with cold Butterbeer in their mugs. Almost right after Bill and Ron showed up, both looking tired and ready to keel over from being left alone with their children for a few hours. Next came Fred and Angelina, who appeared to be fighting over giving out so much candy at Cal's party. Following a few feet behind were George and Katie. Then came Neville and Luna, Remus and Tonks, and Mr. and Mrs. Thorn arrived with Casey. And it was only once everyone had been mingling in the living room for ten minutes that Percy and Penelope finally arrived.

As it the night progressed, Ginny considered it a disaster due to all the children having sugar rushes, which she was sure to thank Fred for, and, of course, for the explosion of Molly's beautiful three layer green cake. Something that the twins swore they didn't do. And they were telling the truth, since it was later discovered to be Calvin. But despite all the mishaps, everyone, adults and children alike, had a wonderful time. And according to Arthur, it was his favourite birthday, much to the delight of Ginny.

'_One month down,_' she thought, once the last guest had left.


	2. February

**Author's Notes:**

To _carolquin_: Yes, I thought of that myself. Then again, it wouldn't be a very good story if she did, would it? lol. Thanks for reviewing.

**Chapter Two: February**

"What do you mean you can't tell?!" Harry shouted at the Healer.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Potter. I know it sounds strange, but sometimes it's hard to tell, and I'd rather not guess for the hell of it. We'll just have to try again next month."

"Next month?!"

"Calm down, Harry," said Ginny softly as she began getting dressed from her ultrasound. "We've waited five months to know the genders, I'm sure we can wait one more." Giving one last questioning look at the Healer, Harry stormed out of the room. "I'm sorry about him," Ginny said.

"It's all right. At least once a month I get someone who can't understand it when I _can't _do something, they're quite common actually," Lynette Lynch replied as she began cleaning up her work station.

"Oh, no, it's not that. Harry just doesn't really … Er …" Ginny paused.

"Like me? Yes, I know. I get quite a few of those too."

"Doesn't it bother you?"

"Not really. Well, I suppose its worse with first-time fathers, your husband's being kind compared to them. Besides, I've wanted to meet him for years, so I can't really be mad at him for being cautious, can I?" The women stood laughing for a moment. "Have you picked out the names yet?"

"Er, kinda. We've narrowed it down to a few, anyway."

"What about the nursery? Have you decorated yet?"

"Actually no," Ginny replied, a thoughtful expression on her face. "You know, it's funny. The first time I was pregnant I waited until I had three weeks left to decorated, and with my second I started as soon as I found out I was pregnant. But I haven't even thought of doing the nursery yet."

"That's not so odd. The first time you were probably nervous you'd lose the baby and you didn't want to jinx it, and the second time you were confident that it'd make it."

"And now?"

"Well, twins feel different to you."

Meanwhile

"Good afternoon, Harry," welcomed Remus as he walked up to the Boy-Who-Lived in the hallway.

"Hello, Remus. What are you doing here?"

"Just picking up my monthly potion." The old werewolf held up a bottle containing the foul-tasting potion. "Ginny in for her check-up?"

"Yeah."

"I take it it's not going well by the tone of your voice."

"The bloody Healer can't determine the genders of the twins."

"Ah, well, that's common. Actually, that happened to your mother."

"It did?"

"Yes. Your father was furious with her Healer too. But the poor woman swore she couldn't tell if you were a boy or a girl," Remus recalled. "Lily was able to calm him down, of course, but he made the Healer take a guess anyway. She thought you were a girl." Harry's smile from hearing about his parents disappeared as Remus began to laugh. "So, have you two decided on names yet?"

"We're working on it," the younger wizard continued, trying to ignore what he'd just been told. "It's hard, though. Ginny keeps picking these really weird names. I mean, she wanted to use Buffy. Can you believe it?"

"Truthfully I like that name."

"Thank you, Remus," Ginny said, stepping out of the hospital room with Healer Lynch close behind her.

Five Minutes Later

"Harry, Lynette – sorry, Healer Lynch gave me a great idea today," began Ginny once she and Harry had Apparated home.

"What? Get a new Healer?" he replied sarcastically.

"No, we should start decorating the nursery."

"The nursery? Already?"

"Why not? I'm already five months pregnant."

"Oh, yes. All right, then." With that the couple began taking out all the decorating magazines they had left over from when Alroy and Rachel were born.

"What color should we paint it?" Ginny asked, flipping through her favourite magazine.

"Don't you mean colors? We have enough rooms for the babies to have their own, you know," said Harry.

"Okay, so what colors do you want to paint them?"

"How about blue, for both?"

"How about blue for one and green for the other?"

"Does it have to be green?" Ginny was beginning to realize how much Harry really liked blue.

"It's green, yellow, pink or purple. You choose."

"Fine, we'll go with green." The rest of the hour was used to decide on which shades of blue and green they wanted to use, along with accent colors.

The Next Weekend

"Harry, are you busy?" Ginny walked slowly into their joint office were Harry was sitting at his desk reading the newspaper and drinking his tea.

"No, why?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go out. Rachel's taking her nap and Al's invited Tim and Jeremy over, so I'm sure Marnie wouldn't mind babysitting for us."

"What? You mean like lunch or something? Sure."

"Er, actually I was thinking about doing a bit of shopping for nursery things."

"All right."

Ten Minutes Later

"Let's try this place." Ginny pointed to a large shop. The sign above the heavy wooden door read _Eve's Baby Emporium._ The inside was a warm and calming place, the walls were a mint green and the doors and floor were wood. Fireplaces were lit at every corner to keep out the cold February air. And friendly looking men and women filled the store and each wore a pink and blue stripped apron.

Ginny immediately felt at home and she felt all her worries about the pregnancy wash away as she looked at all the baby apparel. And Harry, though not likely the shop as much as his wife, was at least thankful that it brought a long awaited smile to her face.

Walking to the back of the building, the couple stopped when they reached the cribs. Now, according to Harry, the best crib it the one in Rachel's room, the old mahogany crib that Molly and Arthur gave them when Al was born. The same one that all seven Weasley children had used. But, that crib was being occupied at the moment by a one year old and now the couple needed to buy two new ones.

"I like this one," said Ginny walking over to a white crib with hearts carved into both ends. Harry, on the other stood by a sturdy oak wood crib that had no decoration, though the edges were carved to look like waves.

"What about this one?" slowly, she made her way over to examine it.

"Yes, it's very nice. I think this is the one," she said, and Harry told the salesman to send two to their house. The next department was the rocking chairs, something Harry agreed not to argue on, since Ginny would be spending the most time in them. After finding and buying two chairs that matched the cribs perfectly, the Potters went on a hunt for two dressers that could double as change tables, which took all of five minutes. The next two hours after that were devoted to buying toys, clothes and other necessities.

Two Days Later

"I thought I told you I wanted mint green, like in Eve's," complained Ginny. Harry had just come home from buying the paint for both nurseries.

"This _is_ mint. At least, that's what the people at the store said."

"Well, what do they know? This is sage, for Merlin's sake!"

"Do you like the blue I got?" Harry asked, trying to calm down his wife.

"Oh, yes, it's lovely. Well, I suppose we ought to get someone over to help you," she said, making her way over to the fireplace to Floo someone.

"Help me?"

"Yes. I certainly can't be around paint, Muggle or wizarding, in my condition, and I can't expect you to paint two large rooms all by yourself. Do you think Bill would be interested in helping?"

Bill arrived several moments later wearing a royal blue jumper that had a large "B" on the front and many holes from the years of use. His long red hair was tied up in a pony-tail and he wore slippers over his boots to make sure they didn't get any paint on them. "All right," he said, "I'm armed and ready to paint." With that, the two men began rolling the periwinkle blue onto the walls of the first nursery then, with Ginny's permission, put sage in the second.

Four Days Later

"Al! Al, get up!" Harry whispered in his son's ear. Although there were five rooms between the master bedroom and Alroy's room, Harry didn't want to take any chances on waking Ginny up, even if that meant trying to wake up Britain's soundest sleeper by whispering. Of course, even the Boy-Who-Lived loses his patients once in a while. Carelessly taking out his wand he put a silencing charm on the room and charmed Al's clock to crow like a rooster, something he hadn't down for over a year.

"I knew it!" exclaimed the nine-year-old once he realized that his father was standing in front of him with a grin on his face. "I knew you were charming my clock!"

"Yeah, yeah. Listen, you and Rachel are going to sleep over at Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione's tonight, okay?"

"Why?"

"Look at your calendar." Alroy did as he was told, then, with a knowing expression on his face, began nodded.

"Oh. Yeah, okay. I'll start packing."

"I already packed your over-night bag, and I got Rachel's things ready too," Harry said, still whispering despite the silencing charm. "Your uncle should be here any second to pick you up." At that moment Ron appeared in the room wearing a Chudley Canons t-shirt and jeans.

"Happy Valentine's Day, everyone," he said with a smile. "Ready to go?" he asked Al.

"Er, give me a second to get dressed, will you?" Harry and Ron left the room then and moved into Rachel's where Harry performed the same charm.

"You're sure this is okay?" Harry asked, handing Rachel over to his brother-in-law.

"Yeah, it's no problem. 'Mione and dad have to work late tonight so it'll just be me and the girls. Mum said she might drop by later on though." Alroy walked in then, dressed a pair of brown trousers and an orange jumper and he was carrying his bag.

"Ready to go," he said, walking up to his uncle. "Bye, dad."

"Bye, Al. Have a good time." A second later Ron disappeared with Rachel in his arms and Alroy by his side. Harry went straight to work after that.

Once in the kitchen he started cracking eggs into a small mixing bowl and threw in some other things. After he got the eggs cooking the bacon and pancakes were put on the stove. And, since Harry didn't really trust himself with toast, he decided to wait until everything was done to start it. Several minutes later two plates sat on the kitchen counter with mounds of food, more than two people could normally consume, anyway. Putting the plate with more food onto a tray, Harry added a cup of tea and a glass of grape juice. And, to top it all off, he added a white rose in a vase and began walking up the stairs.

Gently setting the tray down beside the bed, he nudged Ginny's shoulder to wake her up. A few more nudges and still nothing happened. Eventually Harry had tried nudging, rolling, yelling and was a minute away from kicking when he decided to charm her clock too. That seemed to work.

"Was there a need to be so loud?" Ginny asked tiredly as she sat up in bed. The sleeves were rolled up on her long blue nightgown and her flaming red hair was ruffled so badly that it was at least a foot high.

Harry placed the tray on the bed, in front of Ginny, whose facial expression had gone from tired and angry to very thankful. "Happy Anniversary, honey." Harry, wearing his burgundy bath robe with a frilly pink apron over it, then pulled a large red card in the shape of a heart from his pocket and gave it to his wife.

"Oh, Harry, thank you," Ginny said, slowly getting out of bed and running over to her husband to give him a big hug and kiss. She then moved into her walk-in closet while Harry conjured his own breakfast from down stairs and sat down on his side of the bed. "Happy Anniversary," Ginny said back, handing Harry a card twice as big as the one he'd made, along with a signed Quidditch jersey from Marlon Falconwood, his favourite player.

After thanking his wife the two spent the next few minutes eating breakfast in bed and talking. Which is how Ginny found out where her children were, along with some of what Harry had planned for them.

"I figure after breakfast we can go and take a walk, maybe do a little shopping. No, nothing for the babies," Harry added, seeing Ginny's excited face. "Only things you want, clothes, jewellery, that kinda thing. After that we can have a picnic and –"

"In this weather? It's freezing out there!" Ginny complained.

"Yes, well, I've got something worked out," replied Harry with a sly grin on his face. "Anyway, I've got a few other things planned after that."

"You know, Harry, with the kids out of the house, this gives us the perfect opportunity to start writing – or at least planning – our book." Ginny was now standing on the threshold of her closet, getting dressed.

"Good idea, perhaps we can discus it while we have our picnic."

An Hour Later

"Oh, Harry, this scenery is breathtaking!" cried Ginny. The Potters were taking their long walk at the moment. Though, instead of being along the ocean in Scotland like Ginny had thought, Harry surprised her and took her to the Cliffs of Moher, in Ireland. "I can't believe it's been twelve years since we were here last."

"Yeah, I thought you'd like to come back." Harry smiled, he'd missed Ireland ever since his honeymoon there, and he was very happy to be back. Just then his watch began beeping. "Time to go," he said, taking his wife's hand.

"Aw! Can't we stay a little longer?"

"Gin, we both know you take hours to shop, if we're going to make out lunch reservation you'd better start now."

"I thought we were having a picnic."

"We are."

Ten Minutes Later

Ginny walked through the streets of Aindeen, one of two magical shopping districts in Dublin. Harry walked three feet behind her, finding no need to block her view of the many shops that surrounded them.

"Let's go there first." Ginny pointed to _Eimile_, the best women's clothing store around. Racks full of pre-made robes of every color imaginable lined the walls, making it nearly impossible to see the mauve color. Walking into the maternity department, Ginny held up a deep red ankle-length dress. "What do you think?" she asked Harry. "We've got Ron and Cal's birthday coming up. I can wear it then."

"What about after you give birth, though?"

"It's easy enough to take in the waist. I doubt anyone will even know it's the same dress." Ginny laughed as she ran into the changing room to try on her find. As it turned out, the dress was a bit too big for her, but she got it anyway. Knowing that by Fred and George's birthday she'd be able to fit into it.

"I like this one." Harry held up a golden bikini.

"Harry, I'm not going to be pregnant in the summer."

"Well I'm sure it'll come in handy for the next baby," Harry said, frowning as he put the bikini back on the rack. Ginny whirled around.

"What did you say?!"

"I said it'll come in handy for the next … oops, never mind." Harry realized his mistake.

"That's what I thought." Ginny continued taking ten robes into the changing room at a time until finally she'd reached her limit of three dresses, five pair of pants, ten t-shirts, two jumpers and two pairs of very comfortable shoes.

"Done?" Harry asked and she approached him near the check-out counter.

"Yep."

Five minutes later all of Ginny's new things were safely sent back to the house and the couple was now standing in the jewellery store.

"I'll take it all," Ginny mumbled as she looked at all the sparkling diamonds, emeralds, rubies, amethysts and sapphires under the glass counters.

"Very funny," said Harry as he looked at some ruby cufflinks. "Just remember to save a little money for Al's birthday next month. Okay?"

"Fine." The thirty-year-old then picked out matching sapphire earrings and necklace. "All right, I'm finished."

"So am I," Harry replied, taking the cufflinks and a topaz necklace for Molly to thank her for all she'd done for them. "Okay, time for lunch."

Thirty Minutes Later

"Just keep your eyes closed," said Harry for the tenth time since they had left the Day Bus, something Ginny wasn't happy to be on.

"All right already, they're closed."

Harry quickly laid out a thick blanket on the grass, then conjured a picnic basket with plates, glasses, cutlery, napkins, plus salads, sandwiches, juice and some apples. "Okay," he said finally, "you can open your eyes now."

As Ginny did so, she gasped, of all places she expected to go, Hogwarts was not one of them. The giant castle stood in the distance, the Quidditch pitch was off the left, the Forbidden Forest and Hagrid's hut were to the right, she was standing right in front of the lake, and everything was covered in snow. Except, of course, for the area the Harry and Ginny stood, which the Headmistress had been so kind as to charm for them.

"Sit," Harry instructed, placing some potato salad on both plates. "I've reserved the grounds for two hours."

"Two hours?" Ginny said as she began eating a sandwich. "I won't take us _that_ long to eat."

"No, but I though you might like to do some skating after lunch." Harry pointed to the frozen lake.

"Perfect." Ginny smiled. "Now, to work. Do you have any idea for our book?"

"Well, I did have an idea about how a young Muggle gets thrown into the magical world by accident," Harry said around a mouthful of his tuna sandwich.

"Come on. No one's going to read a book about a kid surviving in our world. Especially not with Voldemort and his men."

"Fine, you got any better ideas then?"

"Yes, actually, I do. The adventures of seven siblings who try to overcome their problems, the biggest of which being poverty."

"You know, these stories are starting to sound oddly familiar. Aren't they?"

"Kinda. Maybe they're in one of Al's books. Okay, new idea. The children of some really famous wizards go to Hogwarts and have to deal with people thinking they're really snotty. What do you think?"

"I like it." Harry grinned as he thought of the characters going through a lot of the things that happened to him. Including the evil Snape-like teacher.

**Author's Notes:**

Okay, people. I need to know what you think. So, what are the twins' genders going to be? What are their names? Will Harry and Ginny's book be a success? Will Ginny survive all the chaos? Tell me! Only two more chapters to go, people. And you'll get a big hug and kiss from me if you review!

-Lizzy


	3. March

**Author's Notes:**

Hey everyone. I'm really sorry its been a while since my last update. I just got a new computer and the dumb thing wouldn't let me transfer all my old files, including chapter three. On the bright side, it doesn't take me an hour to download chapters now.

_Lemonwedges4, _I'm glad you like the story so far.

**Chapter Three: March**

"You're sure you want to know?"

"Positive," said Ginny. She was holding Harry's hand and both were very nervous and excited to find out the genders of their twins, despite already having a boy and a girl.

"Well, it seems the MPU was right, you're having two girls. Congratulations," said Healer Lynch., turning the monitor so that they could see their babies.

"Great," said Harry. "Bethany and Nathalie it is."

"Bethany and Nathalie? What ever happened to Ileana?" asked Ginny with a frown on her face.

"Honey, we can't go with something so uncommon when we'll have to go with at least one simple name like Bethany and Nathalie, I'm sorry but it's true," he said matter-of-factly.

"He's right, you know. It would seem kind of odd," Lynette said as she stood up, ready to leave.

Ginny crossed her arms over her chest, not liking being outnumbered or left out of naming her children. "Fine," she said. "But if in ten years they don't like their names, I'm blaming it on you two."

"Hey, you helped in picking them out. We're just narrowing down the list," Harry said as he wrapped his left arm around the Healer's shoulders and grinned.

Two Hours Later

"Welcome to King Calvin and Prince Ron's birthday!" said Fred as he opened the front door to his and Angelina's house for Harry and Ginny.

"Hey! That's _King_ Ron and _Prince_ Calvin!" called Ron from the next room.

"Is not!" yelled Cal.

"Is to!"

"I think Ron's taking that crown a little too seriously," said George, peering into the living room where his brother and nephew were seated. Both twins were dressed in jesters costumes, something Harry didn't even notice until Ginny pointed it out.

"I knew you shouldn't have given him that sceptre."

"Well how was I supposed to know he'd act like a spoiled brat?! I mean, there was that one Halloween he went as Godric Gryffindor … but I thought he'd changed!"

Harry and Ginny rolled their eyes as they walked through the doorway into the living room and saw identical red and gold thrones set up at the opposite end of the room. Ron sat in the left one while Calvin was in the right. Both had on large crowns and in Ron's hand was the sceptre. After sending Alroy off to talk with Scott and Rona and letting Rachel explore the room, the couple made their way over to the "kings".

"Your … Er … highnesses," Ginny said, curtsying as best she could in her long gold satin gown while Harry bowed in his knight's armour beside her. "Thank you for inviting us commoners."

"You're welcome, peasant. Now go get me some punch, will you?" said Calvin, not even bothering to look at his aunt and uncle. Ron shrugged his shoulders.

"I though they said Ron was the one getting into character," Harry said as they walked to the refreshment table.

"Merlin, Harry, look at the cake!" cried Ginny, looking at the large rectangle slab of pinky- brown cake seated beside the punch bowl. It had lime green squiggles on the top where the writing should be and there were what looked like deformed snitches with hippogriff-sized wings on the sides.

"Oh, dear, you noticed," said Angelina as she, Katie and Hermione walked up behind them. "I wanted to make the cake but Fred insisted on doing everything by himself." She pointed at the cake. "That's the result. He said he was trying to make it red."

"What's that green stuff on top?" Harry asked as he examined Fred's handy work.

"That would be the writing gel." Angelina sighed.

"What's it say?"

"It's _supposed_ to say 'Happy Birthday, Ron and Calvin', right now I think it says 'Hap B-day, Ro an Clvin'."

Hermione shook her head. "I tried to offer to help him, seeing as its Ron's birthday too, but he refused. He said he wanted it to be really special since Calvin's been kind of sad or something."

"Oh, yes," said Angelina. "He doesn't like celebrating his birthday on the first. But I suppose that's the downside of being born on Leap Year."

The five spent the next few minutes talking while they waited for the rest of the family to arrive. A half hour later everyone was seated to watch as the "kings" opened their gifts. Later on a dinner of roast with potatoes, carrots, corn on the cob and a Caesar salad was served, which was, as George said, a meal fit for a king. After dinner the family retreated back into the living room for desert.

"Are you sure this is edible?" asked Al, poking at his piece of cake.

"Of course!" said Fred. "Here, I'll prove it!" The red-head, dressed in a jester's outfit, took a bite of his cake and quickly spit it out. "Er, Angelina …"

Shaking her head, Angelina moved around the room, exchanging pieces of Fred's cake with pieces of her own. "Next time, let me take care of the cake."

"Yes, dear."

Later That Night

"I'm surprised, except for the cake, the twins didn't do that bad a job on the party," Ginny commented as she slid into bed beside Harry.

"Yeah," he replied rolling over to face her. "The fifteenth is coming up, you know."

"Your point, please?"

"Well, don't you think we should start planning? Al won't be pleased if we try to ignore his tenth birthday."

"But I'm too tired to plan," Ginny whined.

"Fine, but you know if I plan it I'll make a cake worse than Fred's and it'll be Quidditch themed." Harry smirked as Ginny immediately sat up and conjured a navy blue binder with 'Alroy' written on the cover.

"So, same guests as Rachel's?" she asked.

"I suppose. Except for your dad's friends, of course."

"Okay. Now, mum offered to do the cake again, but I think I'll do it this time. Do you want to make dinner? Oh, right, stupid question. So, I'm sure Hermione and Fleur wouldn't mind cooking again. That covers the food. Any ideas for gifts?"

"Brooms; candy; a book – maybe."

"We just got him a broom two years ago. And he had enough candy tonight. As for the book, that's a good idea. He's been wanted to read The Lord of the Rings like his classmates; we should get him the whole series. Oh, and his own chess set too."

"Fine with me, but I still think we should get him a new broom. I mean one that'll last when he goes to Hogwarts."

"Harry, first-years aren't allowed to bring brooms to school, you know that."

"You mean McGonagall hasn't changed the rule yet? Well, we can get around it – or he'll take it in his second year," he added, after seeing Ginny' scolding glance.

"No broom, that's final. If he wants one in his _second_ year, we'll get him one. Now, are we in agreement about the books and chess set?"

"I guess."

"Good. We should go to the Party Palace tomorrow. It can't hurt to be prepared a little early."

"All right. What theme do you want to go with?"

"Theme?" Ginny suddenly looked very thoughtful. "Alroy's turning ten this year, maybe we shouldn't use a theme, he might be too old for them."

"'Too old'? For themes?!" Harry pretended to faint, and then sat up a minute later. "I honestly didn't know there was an age limit on them. I would've liked to have had a themed party."

"Yeah, right."

"No, I'm serious. I want a themed party this year." Harry had a straight face.

Ginny put all her papers back into Al's binder and put it on her end table. "Let me get this straight. My husband wants to have a theme for his _thirty-second_ birthday?"

"Yep." Harry had a grin on his face that reminded Ginny of Alroy when he got excited. "Please, Gin," he pleaded. "I'll even let you plan it."

'_That's his idea of a bribe?'_ Ginny thought. "Okay. But if you think I'm doing Quidditch everywhere, you're crazy."

Harry had to think about this for a moment. He smiled again. "Deal!"

Alroy's Birthday

"Harry, can't you hurry up? They'll be here any minute and I don't want them seeing the house like this!" Ginny exclaimed, watching Harry drag five heavy-looking bags out of their closet and down to the living room. He stopped when he reached the stairs.

"I've really got to remember to keep my wand on me," he said, jogging back into the room to retrieve the Holly wand. A minute later the bags were floating down the two flights of stairs to the living room. Just then the doorbell rang.

"Oh no!" said Ginny fumbling to take the rollers out of her copper hair. "They're here already and I'm not even dressed!"

"Calm down. It's probably just Hermione and Fleur," Harry said, making his way over to the front door. Sure enough, his sister-in-laws walked in and after saying hello led themselves to the kitchen.

Twenty minutes later things seemed to be going more smoothly. While Hermione and Fleur were tucked away making Sheppard's pie (Al's favourite) in the kitchen, Ginny sat in a navy blue wing-back chair in the living room watching Harry put up decorations. They were lucky enough to have Alroy's birthday fall on a Friday that year so at the moment he was away off at school and wasn't expected back for at least three more hours.

"A little to the left," Ginny instructed as Harry put up a Happy Birthday sign with his wand. "Perfect! Rachel, stop that!" It was too late, the toddler had managed to climb onto the back of the couch and pull down one of the red and blue streamers.

"It's okay," Harry said as he fastened the banner to the wall. "It's easy enough to fix."

The last hour before Alroy arrived was the most hectic. Harry, dressed in multi-color socks, blue jeans and a jumper Mrs. Weasley made him last Christmas, was the doorman and had to seat everyone in the living room. Ginny, wearing an over-sized white apron over her lilac skirt and floral blouse that showed off her protruding stomach, was putting the finishing touches on her oval two-tier blue cake in the kitchen. It was at two-thirty that Al finally arrived home via Floo.

"Surprise!" yelled everyone in the room, save for Rachel who was working on saying a third word after 'snitch' and 'cake'.

The day went on perfectly. Alroy loved his presents. He got the Lord of the Rings books series and an antique chess set from his parents. He also got candy, clothes, Muggle movies and C.D.s (from Hermione and Penelope), many more books, and a poster of Orlando Garvey's famous Tortoise Sneak move in the 2007 Quidditch World Cup that had Canada against Ireland, it also happened to be the only game Alroy had ever seen.

Later on, as everyone was enjoying their cake, Mrs. Weasley decided to have a little chat with her only daughter and found her seated in her favourite chair by the fireplace, eating a rather large piece of her chocolate cake. "How are you feeling, dear?" Molly asked.

"Fine," Ginny said with a grin, unaware of the chocolate smudges around her mouth.

"Good." Molly was trying to stall, but failing miserably. She just _had_ to ask. "Have you, by any chance--?"

"No." Ginny let her smile fade away.

"You haven't?" Molly couldn't keep the shock from showing in her voice.

"No, we have. I'm just not telling you," the thirty-year-old said around a mouthful of cake.

"Ginny, I have to know."

"No, you don't. I remember what happened when I told you Alroy's name three months before he was born. You told me I should go with something more traditional, perhaps a family name."

"There's nothing wrong with Ignatius, you know!" Molly said, raising her voice a little louder than she meant to. "That was my father's name."

"I know, I know. I did meet the man, after all." Ginny began looking around the room, searching for Harry or someone else that could rescue her from her mother.

"Please, Ginny. I need to know their names if I'm going to finish the jumpers in time for the birth." This was Molly's last excuse and Ginny knew it.

"Sorry, Mum. I really can't tell you." With that, Ginny stood up and starting walking towards the kitchen, planning on getting a second piece of her cake.

**Author's Notes:**

Okay, people. One more chappy to go, so this is your last chance to let me know what you think before it all ends. So, will Ginny make it to her ninth month before the stress gets to her? Will Alroy get a new broom before he attends Hogwarts? Will Alroy even attend Hogwarts? Will the Potters ever have another Quidditch-themed party? Will Harry get his dream party? –sigh- Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself now. Truthfully, only one of these questions will be answered in this story, bet you can't guess which one. Lol.

Byes,

Miss Lizzy


	4. April Showers & May Flowers

**Author's****Notes**

Well, here it is – the fourth and final chapter of _Five__Months_Enjoy!

**Chapter****Four****April****Showers**** & ****May****Flowers**

"Happy Birthday, boys," Arthur said as he handed a present each to Fred and George. The Weasley-Potter family were currently gathered in George and Katie's family room for April fool's day a.k.a. Fred and George's birthday.

"Aw, thanks, dad," said Fred. "I'm touched." He pretended to wipe tears from his eyes. A second later the room was filled with black smoke as the twins opened their presents.

"What – was – in – there?!" George managed to say between coughs. Once the smoke cleared, the boys peered inside the boxes to find them filled with Muggle pranking items and used stink bombs. Arthur and Rona were also found to be the only people laughing.

"She helped me set them up." Arthur pointed to his granddaughter with a grin.

"Rona! That's not nice!" scolded Hermione.

"It's okay, 'Mione," said Fred, he was also grinning.

"Yeah, there are some great products in here," agreed George. "I think we may have enough inspiration to start our new line – Muggle Mayhem!"

After the twins finished opening their presents it was time for games. First was Musical Brooms, and then Pin the Tail on the Kneazle. After that, everyone split up and did what they wanted. Harry and Alroy were seated at the twins' table, playing Go Seek.

"Do you have any Bludgers?" asked George asked Harry, only his eyes visible over the top of his cards.

"Go seek," Harry replied, then turned to his son. "Do you have any Chasers?"

"Here." Alroy handed over his Chaser card unenthusiastically.

Across the room Ginny was talking to Hermione while they watched the younger kids playing.

"I'm almost glad this is going to be over soon," Ginny said, motioning to her stomach. "I'm not sure how much longer I can stand it."

Hermione smiled fondly. "I liked being pregnant." Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well let me know what you think when you're on your third. Will you?"

The brunette suddenly looked very nervous. Her smile had disappeared and was replaced by a look of worry and terror. "Ginny," she said in a barely audible whisper, "I'm going to tell you something, but you've got to keep it a secret, okay?" Ginny nodded. "I think I'm pregnant."

"You're kidding, right?" Hermione didn't say anything. "But, I thought you couldn't – I mean, Harry told me about the complications last time..."

"I know, that's what's worrying me. My Healer told me it would be dangerous if I got pregnant again, and we used every birth control potion and charm we could find." Hermione sighed. "But I guess even magic isn't one hundred percent reliable."

"Does Ron know?"

"Yes. We agreed not to tell anyone for a while, at least until I'm three months along. It's safer that way. But when you brought up being pregnant ... I had to tell someone."

Ginny moved closer to her friend on the couch. "Don't worry, 'Mione. Everything's going to be fine."

"What're we talking about over here?" Harry asked as he walked up to the women.

"What happened to your card game?" asked Ginny, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, I got kicked out – I think Al just won though," he added hearing his son's cheering.

Looking behind Harry, Ginny could see one of the twins helping Alroy stuff mounds of candy into his pockets, no doubt his winnings. "You let him play for candy?!"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. The twins' idea. I think they were planning on winning everything though. I guess they didn't plan on Al being the Go Seek master." Harry laughed and Ginny decided it was best to drop the subject. She could always lecture Harry later, after all.

Easter

"Okay, here are the rules," began Molly speaking to her _whole_ family. They were all standing in the Burrow's backyard, and everyone was holding some sort of basket. "No fighting, no stealing, no pushing and/or shoving, no magic, and no bragging. Does everyone agree?' Everyone nodded their agreement. "Good. And remember to search every room. Let the annual Weasley Easter Egg Hunt begin!"

There was one other rule that Molly hadn't said, it was something that no one really talked about, but everyone knew. If you want to have so much as a chance of winning the hunt, you've got to partner up. This rule hadn't been around from the beginning, mind you, in the beginning there were only eight people searching for eggs, Arthur and his children. Now there were the grandchildren to think about too. And with so many people looking for so few eggs, it quickly became very clear that not everyone could get a decent amount of eggs. That's when the partner system came into effect. Nowadays even two-year-old Carter had a chance of winning the whole thing, with his mother's help, of course.

The hunt started off with Ron and Colleen racing with Harry and Alroy up to the attic. Both Ginny and Hermione had declined when asked to enter the hunt and both their husbands were more than happy to help their children, even though they were the ones that needed help.

Scanning his eyes over the small attic that was once his bedroom, a violet egg lying on his old pillow caught Ron's eye. "You're going down, Potters," he said, placing the egg in his daughter's pink basket.

"Dream on, Wheezy," Harry replied. He and Alroy split up right away and began searching the room; both came back with five eggs in the first minute.

"You realize, this means war," Ron said after noticing their egg count. He then ran around the room and came back with twice their amount of eggs.

"Oh, and here I thought this was going to be a relaxing evening." Harry grinned. "It appears we have a little competition this year, Al."

"Good, I was getting tired of winning _every_ time," Alroy said with a laugh. It was true. The Potter men had been on a winning streak for the last three years. And they'd also had several other wins over the years. Their biggest competitor team was Bill and Genevieve. Both Bill and Harry were excellent Seekers, so doing better than them was a big achievement for anyone in the family, but it rarely happened. So far they were tied on their wins, each hoped to break the tie this year.

In what used to be Bill and Charlie's old room, then Percy's, Fred and Calvin were searching between boxes full of clothes and toys while George and Amy looked under beds and in the drawers. "This is hopeless," Fred finally announced after twenty minutes and only coming up with five tiny eggs.

"We must never give up!" cried Cal from behind one rather large box.

"How did _I_ get stuck with the little General?" Fred asked himself, only loud enough for George to hear.

"Well, let's see," his twin began. "Scott wanted to partner up with Tim. Jeremy had already chosen Wendy. Oh, and Katie and Angelina wanted to show us off, so they chose each other. I'm pretty sure that's how it happened."

"Thanks a lot."

In what was once the twin's room, Scott and Timothy found themselves in a rather sticky situation.

"Pull! I said _pull_!" yelled Tim.

"I'm already pulling," replied Scott, indeed pulling Tim's shirt and arm.

"Then pull harder!"

Scott stopped for a moment and just looked at his cousin. Tim's feet and legs were covered in a bluish-green slime that had poured out of an urn when one of the boys accidentally knocked it over. He was now stuck to the floor and couldn't move a muscle. Unfortunately for Scott, he could still shout out orders.

"Maybe I should go and get my dad, or Uncle George. They'd probably know how to fix this."

"And give them the upper hand? No way!"

Down stairs, Fleur and Neil were looking through the kitchen.

"Do you see anyzing?" she asked her nephew as she sat down at the table, exhausted.

"There's one on the fridge, but I can't reach," the five-year-old replied as he placed his full basket on the table. Fleur immediately took out her wand and floated the egg into the basket. At that moment Percy and Philippe walked in.

"Mum, wands are against the rules," the boy said as he watched his mother.

"Well, eet is in my basket now."

Percy bent down so that he was face-to-face with his partner. "Phil, can you go and tell grandma that someone's cheating in the kitchen for me?"

"Sure." He was half way out the door when Fleur called out to him.

"Fine, I weel put eet back."

"Put what back?" asked Bill as he and Genevieve walked past Philippe.

"An egg," Neil said. "Aunt Fleur used her wand to get it."

"Fleur! How could you?" said Bill, unable to believe his wife could do such a thing.

"I'm sorry. We weel go outside and speak to Molly now," Fleur said, taking hold of Neil's shoulder and guiding him out the door.

"I can't believe Mum would do that," Gen said once her mother was out of earshot.

"I think that's the first disqualification since Ginny hexed you to hand over all your eggs that one year. Remember?" said Percy, laughing at the memory.

"Yes," replied Bill through gritted teeth. "And I'll thank you not to bring that up again."

In the backyard Neil was reading a book on a patch of grass while Molly, Ginny, Hermione and Fleur watched Penelope wander around the yard with Carter by her side.

"Here!" Carter exclaimed, holding up a pink and blue egg for his mother to take.

"That makes four," Penelope said to no one in particular. "Fifty more and I might beat out someone." Carter only smiled and continued on his hunt.

Back upstairs, in Ginny's room this time, Angelina and Katie were taking a break, sitting on the small bed.

"Merlin, Katie, look at this!" Katie ran over to wear Angelina was standing, looking inside the closet.

"Those can't be Ginny's," Katie said in disbelief. Fully opening the closet doors, light poured in making it almost impossible to not see the old drawings, half covered by hanging clothes.

"She must have made them before her first year." Angelina pulled a sloppy drawing off the wall. It was of a girl with flame-red hair and a boy with black hair, emerald green eyes, round glasses and a gold lightning bolt scar. They appeared to be kissing under a full moon. "I wonder if Harry's seen these yet."

"Probably not. You know Ginny, she was embarrassed enough to admit that she'd had a crush on him for all those years, she'd never want anyone to see these." Katie quickly snatched the picture from Angelina's hands and stuck it back on the wall before closing the doors.

A few rooms away, Arthur was opening the doors to his and Molly's closet while Rona searched through drawers behind him. So far they'd collected twelve eggs from this room, five from the living room, two from the backyard when the race began and seven on the staircase. With all those eggs, the team was pretty sure they were winning.

"Twenty-seven," Rona counted, putting a red polka-dotted egg into the basket.

"Twenty-eight." Arthur added another.

"There's no way Uncle Harry or Uncle Bill can beat us this year," Rona said with what sounded to Arthur like the sort of laugh you'd hear from a villain in an old Muggle movie.

"See anything, Rachel?" said Marnie, crawling across the living room floor to wear her niece was seated.

"Cake!" replied the toddler, pointing to a picture of Molly and Arthur on the coffee table.

"Great, but I don't think an old picture's going to help us." Standing up, Marnie surveyed the room once more, yet saw no other eggs but the ones already in her basket.

"Having problems, mum?" Jeremy and Wendy strolled into the room. Both had huge grins on their faces and were carrying a full basket between them.

"Not at all." Marnie usually wasn't a competitive person. But let's face it, her husband and kids deserted her, leaving her with a baby for a partner! "Actually, Rachel just helped me find another egg," she said, taking a turquoise and lemon stripped egg from behind the picture on the coffee table. "That's the last in the room."

"Then what's this?" Wendy walked over to a book shelf behind her mother and pulled an egg from the bottom shelf.

"Oh, well, _that_ must be the last one, then."

"Remind me why I'm doing this," called Charlie as he stood up carefully.

"Because we've got to win!" Angel said.

"That's easy for you to say, you're nice and safe on the ground. Have you ever told you that I'm afraid of heights?"

"Stop pouting and start looking for eggs!"

"Oh, man. She'd bossier than Percy!" he said to himself as he slowly walked over the roof's shingles. "I swear if I don't find any eggs up here I'm going to ki – hey, what's that? You're kidding me. On the chimney? Angel, I found one!"

An Hour Later

"Can I please have everyone's attention?!" The backyard suddenly became very quiet as everyone waited for Molly to announce the winners. "With fifty-two eggs, plus one of the three golden eggs..." people started groaning as the realized that she wasn't talking about them. "Marnie Weasley and Rachel Potter are the winners."

"What? I demand a recount!" shouted Bill over his family's cheering. "She beat me by three eggs!"

"Yeah, and I had to climb on the roof!" cried Charlie.

"Face it, guys, my daughter just has a natural talent for seeking," Harry said with a wide smile.

"Natural talent, my foot. He's probably been training her for weeks!" Ron said jokingly.

"I could say the same about Rona. She came in third, you know," Harry replied.

"So, what? That couldn't have anything to do with me being her partner?" Arthur's voice came somewhere in the back of the crowd.

All the fighting and joking eventually led the early morning hunt into the night and everyone was forced to stay for Easter dinner on Molly's orders.

April Twenty-Eighth

Things had been going well in the weeks that followed after Easter. Harry and Ginny managed to write the first chapter of their story, _Lifestyles of the Rich and __the __Hated_, and they'd been able to convince Felicis Publishers (located in Diagon Alley) to publish the book once they were done. And with the weight of their new job off their shoulders they were finally able to spend some much needed time with Alroy and Rachel. There were only two problems that occurred in that time. One was Ginny going into false labour – twice, and the other was that they hadn't seen any of their family since the holidays.

Ginny walked slowly into the family room holding a tray of three mugs, each containing steaming hot chocolate. First she made her way over to Alroy who was reading his new books n the corner and handing him a mug. Next she went to Harry, playing with Rachel in the middle of the floor.

"Gin, I thought Lynette told you to relax," Harry scolded as he grabbed the tray form his wife.

"Oh, so it's _Lynette_ now, huh?" Ginny laughed, awkwardly trying to sit down on the floor beside Harry. "And for your information, she said I should take it easy – not be on bed rest."

"I'm just worried."

"And I'm not? Harry, you know me, I can't just sit back and do nothing."

"I know, but you're due next month!" Harry was close to begging her to stay in bed now.

Ginny had a thoughtful look on her face all of a sudden, and it scared Harry to think of what she might be thinking of. "I'll tell you what, if we can have a barbecue with the whole family, I'll stay in bed for the rest of the pregnancy. Deal?"

Harry didn't like this one bit. "A barbecue? Can't we just wait until Scott's birthday to see everyone?"

"But I'm due on the fifteenth and Scott's birthday is on the twenty-fifth."

"Exactly." Harry chuckled and Ginny glared at him. "Oh, all right. We'll have the barbecue. But remember your promise – you'll stay in bed for the rest of your pregnancy."

"Of course." Ginny looked happier than Harry had seen her in weeks.

"So, when should we have it, anyway?"

"I'm thinking May first or second."

Harry looked confused. "But, Ginny, that's only thirteen or fourteen days before you're due."

"Exactly," she giggled.

May Second

It was still dark out when Ginny woke up. Rolling onto her side to look at her digital clock, she could barely make out the blinking red numbers telling her it was only five in the morning. She slowly got out of bed, trying her best not to alarm Harry. He'd been extra paranoid lately and desperately needed his sleep. Making sure not to walk on any creaking floorboards, she found her way to the joining bathroom blindly.

Several minutes later she came out and began walking back to her side of the bed when she started having back pains, something she'd become accustom to. Knowing there was no way she'd be able to go back to bed in pain; she turned around and headed for the door instead. Slowly and quietly Ginny moved from room to room making sure Alroy and Rachel were still sound asleep before going down stairs to the kitchen.

Ginny winced as the light came on in the vast kitchen; it was way too early for so much light. She opened the fridge door automatically reached for the chocolate cake on the top shelf. '_No_,' she told herself. '_That's for the barbecue_.' Slamming the door, she moved over to the pantry and grabbed a bag of crisps. Lazily, she sat down at the kitchen table, conjured herself a glass of ice tea and began eating. After a few minutes her back started hurt again and she tried to think of a way to take her mind off of the pain.

This time she conjured a piece of parchment and a quill and began writing down all the things she needed to do after her snack to prepare for the barbecue. But Ginny's idea of a distraction wasn't working, the pain was now spreading to her stomach and she started realizing that they weren't going away as quickly as they were before. '_Oh, Merlin_,' she thought. '_I'm in __labor__!'_

Running up the stairs as best she could, Ginny stayed calm, even as she walked into the master bedroom to get ready. "Harry!" she called as she grabbed a yellow maternity dress and ran into the bathroom to get dressed. "Harry! Get up!"

"Huh? What's going on?" he replied sleepily, his hand feeling around the end table for his glasses.

"It's time," she said, slipping on a pair of flip-flops from the foot of the bed now. It took harry all of five seconds to pull his own shoes, comb his hair, grab hold of Ginny's over-night suitcase in one hand and her arm in another and Apparate to St. Mungo's.

"Harry! Ginny! Is everything okay?" asked Casey running up behind them.

"Everything's fine," Ginny said. "By any chance, is Healer Lynch here?"

"She's in her office." Casey was then designated to lead Ginny safely to Lynette's office while Harry Apparated back to the house to get Alroy and Rachel, and, of course, notify the family that there wouldn't be a barbecue that day.

What seemed like days passed. In reality it was only an hour and a half or so. Casey had found someone to cover the rest of her shift so she could sit with Alroy, Rachel, the Weasleys, Longbottoms, Lupins and Healer Thorn in the waiting room. Meanwhile, inside room 118, Harry and Ginny were in for a little surprise.

"Oh dear," muttered Lynette.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Ginny asked, she voice cracking slightly. The first delivery had gone fine as far as she and Harry knew and now they were just waiting for something to go wrong.

"Nothing, everything's fine." The Healer was smiling now.

"They're okay?" Harry couldn't believe it. He'd been worrying all this time for nothing.

"Of course. I just made a slight mistake."

"Mistake?" Ginny tried to look over Lynette's shoulders at the assistant Healers who were handling her children, but she could hardly move.

"Yes, nothing serious or anything." Lynette took a baby wrapped in a soft pink blanket from one of the assistants and handed it to Ginny. "You have two healthy babies."

"Thank goodness," Harry said, looking down at his daughter.

"Yes," the Healer agreed, handing the second baby to Harry. "But you might want to think about changing one of the names." It was at this point that Harry and Ginny noticed the blue blanket wrapped around the baby Harry was holding. "I don't think Bethany _or_ Nathalie will work for him." Both Lynette and Ginny started laughing, Ginny more out of relief of knowing her twins were healthy.

"Well," Harry finally said. "I suppose we could still use Bethany for her and just switch 'Nathalie' to 'Nat' for him."

Ginny scrunched up her face in disgust. "I don't like that one. I think we should go with one of the names we chose before. What were they? Dylan, Joseph and Theodore?"

"Yeah." Harry paused for a minute to look at his son. "I like Joseph. Joseph Arthur Potter."

"Me too." Ginny smiled. "So then, what do we name her? Bethany or Nathalie?"

"I don't know. Which one do you want?"

"Truthfully? I don't think either name fits her."

"Then what do we name her?" Both adults began thinking back to their name lists to find something that could work. It was Ginny that reached the answer first.

"Ileana Molly Potter."

A few minutes later friends and family were allowed into the room to see the twins. Harry and Ginny were happy to see smiles on both of their older children as they looked at their siblings for the first time. As Joseph and Ileana were being carefully carried around the room to meet everyone by Molly and Lynette, Ginny pulled Harry down close to her and began whispering in his ear so that no, especially her mother could hear.

"Do you really want more kids?" she asked in a serious tone.

Harry searched for a sign of some sort of a trap. He found none. "I don't know." It was the truth. "Do you?"

Ginny smiled sweetly, as if ready to ask for something. "Yes."

**The End**

**Author's Notes:**

I hope everyone enjoyed _Five Months_. I'm not really sure I like that ending; I was kinda planning something a little different where Ginny says "If I ever tell you I want more kids, send me to Azkaban" or something like that. Well, what's done is done. Now's it's your turn to tell me what you thought of the ending, or any part of this story. What did you like? What didn't you like? Do you want _another_ sequel? If so, what do you want to happen? Okay, enough rambling. It's your time to REVIEW!!!

Love y'all,

Miz Liz


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